Modern Family 4×07 review: ‘Arrested’

Hooray! Modern Family has been consistently getting better week by week and this week was no exception for its improvement. Definitely a 4 out of 5 laughs on the funny scale! Did this episode make you laugh as much as I did? Let me know in the comments section below! Aside from the hilarious moments, Modern Family once again tackled another sensitive topic – quite a lot of that lately but that definitely adds substance to the show.

Hayley is back and the first way to greet her viewers is to have an episode of her getting arrested! At first we’re told she was arrested for underage drinking at a party but later find out through a hilarious video clip of the incident that she was also brought in for resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. Obviously, the latter one was an accident. I don’t feel like Modern Family sugar coated this issue at all.

There is definitely a lot of underage drinking on television shows nowadays without a hint of consequence (Gossip Girl, 90210, Awkward, etc.) and the truth for once was remarkably refreshing! Hayley, like any other teenager, didn’t seem to care about the consequences at all and just felt unlucky as she was the one who got caught. Phil, who normally stays calm amongst chaos, steps up to the plate to deal with this issue. It absolutely had to be Phil and not Claire for us to see the severity of the problem at hand. He loses his cool for the first time and really disciplines Hayley to be an adult by telling her to reflect on what
she’s done wrong and how she could be throwing away her whole life when he and her mom had worked so hard for it to be possible in the first place. This scene was amazing as it showed parents who really cared for their child in a way that they could be firm yet supportive as well. The consequences she faced were not at all unrealistic and also a great way to integrate her back into the show. I was excited to see more development with the other kids but I’m glad Hayley’s back! She showed a lot of growth into becoming a young adult in this episode and I’m sure there’s a lot more to come.

The subplots in this episode stepped down from anything too intense unlike last week and allowed the main storyline to really pop. The funny factor was jacked up in the subplots and complimented Hayley’s serious issue very well. Overall, this was a fun episode and I enjoyed it very much. If there’s anything else that stood out to you, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!

Denise is currently a student studying Media, Information, and Technoculture for her undergrad in university. She loves watching television shows as well as giving her opinions on them. She is always looking for new shows to watch so recommend ANY if you'd like! In the future she would love to work in the entertainment industry whether it be behind-the-scenes with production, advertising and marketing, or upfront with public relations and social media. She thinks No White Noise is a great opportunity to share her thoughts and receive constructive criticism to better improve her writing. To name a few of Denise's all time favourite shows: Downton Abbey, Lost, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Suits, and many more.

I actually thought Claire and Phil were super nice about the whole thing! Just one thirty second lecture from Phil? I’d say Haley got off the hook wayyyy too easy by her parents, especially considering this was the only school she even got into and she only lasted six weeks. *shakes head* But I do love Haley so I’m excited to have her back in the thick of things

http://twitter.com/deniseechang Denise Chang

I totally understand where you’re coming from! If it was an Asian show, she’d be disowned but hey, it’s a family, G-rated, television show, so I guess you can’t really scare the little kids just yet! Hopefully they’ll show more of her parents’ punishment or disappointment in the coming episodes. They were proud of her for her confessions at the discipline hearing and I think that was really the main point of the story. Not really to show what a bad kid she was and what kind of punishment she should receive from her parents but that she did the right thing in the end and that’s why her parents are still supportive.